Xenophobia in Malaysia

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Xenophobia is one of the serious problems in Malaysia, as it is shown from almost every citizens of the country. It is a part of racism, but xenophobia occurs regardless of race. Most of xenophobia is towards foreign labours, who normally came from Indonesia, Bangladesh^[1] and Africa.^[2] There is also a significant degree of xenophobia towards neighbouring Singaporeans and Indonesians too.

Examples[]

Jobs[]

Malaysia applies a xenophobic labouring law that tries to prohibit hiring foreigners in any sections of jobs. Each companies are not allowed to hire foreigners unless if there's no locals want to apply for the job.^[3]

Due to high rate of xenophobia, foreigners are often failed to apply for both full-time and part-time jobs. Even part-time jobs are normally "Malaysian ONLY".

Tourism[]

In most of tourist facilities, foreigners need to pay more than locals(1, Example 2). However, they normally don't mention as "either Malaysian or not" but "either MyKad or not".

Social media[]

In social media (Facebook for instance), there are frequent expressions of dislike for specific nationalities.

By states[]

Penang[]

In 2014, Penang state government held a referendum that bans foreigners cooking local cuisines.^[4] And in this referendum, most of people said "YES".

This laws are criticised by foreigners.^[5] A well-known local chef, Redzuawan Ismail, also criticised this law.^[6]

Johor[]

In Johor there are often complaints about Singaporeans who cross the border to take advantage of cheaper prices and caused the prices in the state, especially Johor Baru, to increase significantly that the cost of living has become unaffordable to many.

See also[]

• Racism in Malaysia

References[]